Together Again
by TheShadowsinLife
Summary: Claire and Gray knew each other as kids, but one year Claire stopped coming to Mineral Town. When Claire returns, her and Gray's friendship is rekindled along with something more. I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Spring 2

I used to know this girl. We played together when we were younger. Every summer I would come and stay with my grandfather in the blacksmith's, and she would come and stay with her grandfather on the farm in Mineral Town. We would play, go fishing, and occasionally, mine (at least when my grandpa would let us. We were only kids then).

This went on for four years. When I was nine, she stopped coming. I never knew why, but one summer she just didn't come back. I had asked my grandpa where she was and he had told me that it wasn't any of our business. I always thought that, maybe, it was because of me…

Now, I was twenty, and I was permanently living in Mineral Town. It hadn't been my choice, of course. Who would want to live in a small-ass town like this one? No, I was forced to come here. My parents decided to ship me here a few months after I turned eight-teen. I wasn't completely innocent though. They had sent me here for a reason. Despite my quietness and cool demeanor, I was quite the party boy back in the city. Give me a few beers and I would be doing karaoke. After I had thrown a TV out of a hotel room window, my parents decided that I had caused enough trouble for them and had sent me here.

So here I was, sitting in the library at four o'clock in the afternoon. It was a Monday and the library was closed, but Mary had let him come in anyway. She was nice like that.

"Bye Mary, it was good seeing you today." I said in my usual, uninterested tone.

Mary looked at me and blushed (wow, she really was shy). "It was good seeing you too Gray…" she said but then trailed off.

I walked out of the library and took a left to head back to the inn. As I was walking back, I saw Cliff heading towards the inn to (we shared a room). I didn't say anything since I wasn't the type to. I turned right and walked in front of him until we got back to our room.

"Hey Cliff!" Anne said happily.

"…hi Anne…" Cliff responded in that shy voice of his.

"Hi to you too, Anne…" I said in a quiet voice.

"I heard that." Anne said.

"Doesn't matter." I said back to her.

Cliff and I walked up to our room and sat on our separate beds, across from each other.

"So…did you hear that there's a new girl in town?" Cliff asked.

"Yep. Not sure why anybody would want to move here though."

"Yeah." Cliff laughed. He was a little more confident around me than he was around other people. It was because we had become good friends while sharing a room together, ever since he got to Mineral Town a year ago.

"Now you won't be the newbie here in town, huh, Cliff?" He smiled.

"Yeah. Good night Gray."

"Night Cliff" And off to bed we went.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Spring 3

That night I had a dream. In the dream I was with the girl and we were standing on the peak of Mother's Hill.

_"Look Gray!" she said pointing at the sky. "That cloud looks like a chicken!"_

_"Yeah, it really does." I laughed. _

_"Ooh, and that one looks like one of the cows my grandpa has!"_

_"Don't cows look generally the same?"_

_"NO!" She said, annoyed, "They all have different patterns of spots on them."_

_I put my hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "You're right, they do Claire."_

And then everything went black…

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't help but smile. I hadn't dreamt of that girl in ages. I had never forgotten her name. Claire. I really missed her. One day, I dreamt of getting out of this town and finding her. But that was just another dream.

I headed out of the inn and walked to the Blacksmith. I walked slowly, going over the dream in my head over and over again. When I entered the blacksmith, Grandpa looked busy.

"Morning." I said to him as I passed by the counter and back to my area.

"You're late." He said to me.

"No I'm not!" I said defensively. "It's eight thirty-five!"

"Yes! And you are to get here at eight-thirty on the dot!" Grandpa screamed.

"Whatever!" I screamed back.

There was more of this, back and forth, until he finally gave up and left me to do my thing. I was so focused that I didn't even bother turning around when the door opened. I already knew that it would be Rick or Mary. Although, seeing Mary wouldn't be so bad.

"Hello," my grandfather said, "I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"Yeah, I just moved into the ranch. My name's Claire."

At that, my head turned instantly around. In front of my grandfather was a small girl with blonde hair and big-blue eyes. 'Oh my Goddess, it's her' I thought. I wasn't even aware that my mouth was open until she turned around to look at me. I quickly stood up and shut my mouth.

"Umm, hi, I'm Gray." I could have sworn that her face lit up when I said my name, but it was probably just my imagination.

"Hi Gray, I'm Claire." She turned back to my grandfather and started talking to him again, but I was to engrossed in my thoughts to listen

'Wow, I can't believe it's her.' I thought. I thought that I would never see her again. It was amazing that she was standing right in front of me. But then, all too soon, she was gone.

"Bye Saibara, bye Gray." Claire said right before she left.

All of the sudden, I felt something hit me on the head. It took me a second to register that it was my grandfather's hand.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked angrily.

"That was for making me look like I had an idiot for a grandson! All you did was stand there with your mouth open!" he yelled back.

"Why do you always have to make me feel like such an idiot!?" I screamed. And then, I stormed out.


End file.
